Variety & Spotify Announce 2023 Entertainment Marketing Visionaries Dinner

Jem Aswad Executive Editor, Music As news about Spotify’s new payment model has torturously dribbled out — details have been leaked through sources, with little official comment from the company — it’s not surprising that controversy has accompanied it. Streaming royalty models are deeply complicated and Spotify, the world’s largest paid streaming service by a long measure, has borne the brunt of the world’s frustration with the low royalties that most artists and especially songwriters receive from digital service providers.

BtoB and Hongseok of PENTAGON have left long-time agency CUBE Entertainment.CUBE Entertainment announced today (November 6) that all six members of K-pop boyband BtoB would not be renewing their contracts, with the agency saying that it was “mutually decided”, as translated by Koreaboo.The news comes just days after it was reported that the contracts of five BtoB members had ended, with CUBE Entertainment saying that it and the K-pop idols were “working through this situation with an open mindset, looking at various options”.According to a new report today by Sports Chosun, BtoB had decided to leave CUBE Entertainment as early as last week over the trademark of the group’s name. Meanwhile, the K-pop agency told Dispatch that it is “positively discussing trademark rights with the BTOB members”.“We cannot provide details about the trademark rights discussions,” CUBE Entertainment added.

EXCLUSIVE: IW Group has promoted industry veteran Karen Tran Wood to Group Director of Entertainment Marketing and Publicity as the agency specializing in multicultural youth marketing looks to grow its efforts in the entertainment space.

CUBE Entertainment has responded to reports of BtoB’s contract expirations in an official statement.Earlier today (November 1), South Korean media outletIlgan Sports reported that the contracts of five BtoB members had expired, alledging that the K-pop idols and CUBE Entertainment have yet to come to an agreement on a possible renewal.According to the report, BtoB are interested staying as group even if they leave CUBE Entertainment. Ilgan Sports also claims that several other labels have offered up to ₩6billion (approximately £3.64million) as a down payment to house the group if they decide to depart from their long-time agency.Shortly after reports of BtoB’s contract expiration surfaced, CUBE issued a brief statement to Xport News, saying that “the contract between CUBE Entertainment and some of the BtoB members has not yet concluded”, as translated by Koreaboo.“We plan on doing our best until the end of the contract,” CUBE Entertainment added.“We understand that the BtoB members are working through this situation with an open mindset, looking at various options.”In response to claims of third-party labels approaching BtoB, CUBE Entertainment said: “The amount mentioned in the article has nothing to do with our company’s position related to the matter.”BtoB debuted as a seven-member group in 2012, and have last renewed their contracts with CUBE Entertainment in 2018.

Jungkook, a member of K-pop boyband BTS, has broken the record for the fastest song to reach 1billion streams on Spotify.Today (October 31), Spotify announced on Twitter that Jungkook’s debut solo single, ‘Seven’ featuring Latto, became the fastest song to reach 1billion streams on the streaming platform on Monday (October 30).On October 30, Jung Kook's "Seven (feat. Latto)" became the fastest song to reach 1 Billion streams in Spotify history.

Spotify has revealed that Taylor Swift has broken two new records on the streaming platform.The singer released her re-recording of ‘1989’ on Friday (October 27), the fourth album in a series of re-recordings. It follows an ongoing dispute between the superstar and Scooter Braun, former owner of her previous label Big Machine Records – read here for a refresher of the situation.Since ‘1989 (Taylor’s Version)’ was released, Spotify has said that Swift broke two new records.

Taylor Swift continues to make history with her music and this time 1989 (Taylor’s Version) has broken a record that the singer and songwriter set herself.

Taylor Swift continues to prove that she is in a class of her own!

Meredith Woerner Deputy Editor, Variety.com The masterminds behind memorable marketing moments from “Barbie,” “Call of Duty,” “Pokerface” and even that creepy “Smile” campaign that placed grinning actors at various Major League Baseball games gathered Thursday at the Variety + Spotify Advertising’s Visionaries dinner to toast leaders in the field. West Hollywoods’ Sunset Tower Hotel welcomed the industry’s leading innovators selected for Variety’s 2023 Digital Marketing Impact Report and the four recipients of the Variety Entertainment Marketing Visionaries Award, presented by Spotify.

Mister Smith Entertainment has hired Augusta Charlton as Director, International Sales & Acquisitions. 

Jaden Thompson Slamdance has announced the winners of its annual screenplay competition, with Mike Ackerman’s feature-length script “This End Up” winning the grand prize. Slamdance announced the awards — recognizing writers across the categories of feature film, horror/thriller, TV pilot, short film and a special mentorship award — during a ceremony held at Los Angeles’s Westwood Landmark Theater on Wednesday night.

Valerie Wu Intern The 2023 annual Newport Beach Film Festival (NBFF), hosted from Oct. 12 to Oct. 19, has announced its slate of awards winners.

What’s Sean Baker have in store for audiences next? Variety has the scoop there, reporting that the “Red Rocket” director teams up with FilmNation Entertainment again for his upcoming film “Anora.” And the movie is already in post-production, although plot details remain under wraps. As for who stars in Baker’s latest, there’s one confirmed name: Mikey Madison, who audiences will recognize from “Once Upon A Time In Hollywood…” and “Scream 5.” READ MORE: Sean Baker Warns “Censorship” Could Be Coming To American Cinema As He Wraps Production On His Newest Film Baker shot his upcoming film in Brooklyn earlier this year.

Spotify have announced that less popular tracks won’t earn any royalties whatsoever, despite the company reporting better-than-expected third-quarter profits and subscriber gains.The Swedish streaming service gained an extra 6million paying subscribers from June to September, bringing its total to 226million. This exceeds its forecast that their paid subscriber levels would pass the 224million mark.Despite these gains, however, Billboard reports that Spotify is restructuring its royalty system and plans to de-monetize tracks that had previously received 0.5% of Spotify’s royalty pool.” The plans will reportedly be implemented early next year.The changes in the royalty system are set to benefit more established artists and labels, while the biggest difference from the old system is that a track will need to reach a minimum number of annual streams before it starts generating royalties.Spotify is reportedly also planning to crack down on “fraud” and will issue financial penalties against distributors and labels it deems guilty of this.

Spotify is planning to roll out major changes to its royalty model, Music Business Worldwide and Billboard report. Per those publications, the company will execute this plan in the first financial quarter of 2024 in an effort to “combat three drains on the royalty pool — all of which are currently stopping money from getting to working artists.” These drains, apparently, are low-streaming tracks, “fraudulent activity” on the platform, and non-music “noise” audio that, in the current model, is placed on par with bona fide songs.

Karen Idelson In the fast-paced world of viral campaigns and emerging platforms, digital marketers are constantly refining their approach to draw in consumer engagement.Whether it’s for film, television or gaming projects, Hollywood employs cutting-edge strategies to attract audiences, especially when viewers are more empowered and able than ever to give direct feedback via social media. Leaders in the field, who will be honored at Variety Spotify’s Entertainment Marketing Visionary Awards on Oct.

For editorial questions, please contact Sharareh Drury at [email protected] Head of Global MediaSpotify Boynton oversees paid media, influencers and integrations at Spotify, which aims to connect with audiences through authentic storytelling and community-driven initiatives. For instance, Spotify’s Fuego Mixtape takeover recently gave users the chance for their selections to be featured as the Fuego playlist of the week. “The challenge is that the world moves so fast,” says Boynton.

Spotify gave an early peek at its two-week-old Audiobook rollout with chief executive Daniel Ek telling investors, “It’s early days, but we feel good.”

Revenues at Spotify jumped by 11% last quarter as the audio giant was able to stem the flow of operating losses from Q2.

Spotify by Sony, including Gravity Rush, Shadow Of The Colossus, Soul Sacrifice and more.The SIE Sound Team account on Spotify is the one-stop shop for the soundtracks to a selection of the most acclaimed games on PlayStation, such as Astro Bot Rescue Mission, Bloodborne, Demon’s Souls, The Last Guardian and more.With this recently released lot, fans will be able to listen to the soundtracks to Echochrome, Fantavision, Freedom Wars, Gravity Rush, Patchwork Heroes, PoPoLoCrois, popolocrois: a new departure, PoPoRoGue, Shadow Of The Colossus, Soul Sacrifice, What Did I Do To Deserve This, My Lord!? 1 & 2, White Knight Chronicles, White Knight Chronicles 2 and Wild Arms (as pointed out by X user AniPlaylist).At the time of writing, these have not appeared on any other streaming services like Apple Music, so it might be a matter of time before the aforementioned soundtracks become available elsewhere.For fans of Shadow Of The Colossus, it is a boon that they no longer have to rely on YouTube to listen to the soundtrack, which is one of the highlights of the reflective experience of playing the game.In Jack Richardson’s exploration of Team Ico’s original action adventure for NME‘s Remastered column, he argued that the emptiness and minimalism of the game’s direction is specifically haunting in a way that is unique to the medium.“Games have two stories: the one that takes place in the game and the story of us playing it. There’s certainly an artistry behind combining these two as closely as possible, but it’s not a necessary goal,” he said.“When we play Colossus, we’re constantly challenged to interpret what’s going on as we do it.